The Phocuswright Conference 2026 to tackle AI disruption, platform power and the pivots rewriting travel’s competitive order

 

NEW YORK, NY, May 20, 2025 – Phocuswright this week announced the theme for its 2026 annual conference: Pressures. Power. Pivots. A framework for examining the forces reshaping how demand is created, captured and converted across the travel industry. Registration is now open, with an early-rate window offering $800 in savings that closes May 29.

 

The theme reflects a travel landscape under simultaneous pressure from multiple directions. Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than most organizations can absorb. Platform consolidation is concentrating distribution power among a narrowing field of gatekeepers. Traveler expectations for personalization, immediacy and seamless discovery are rising ahead of the industry’s collective ability to meet them. And regulatory scrutiny of dominant platforms is intensifying across key markets.

 

“AI is changing not just how travel is booked, but how decisions are made and which brands are considered in the first place. That has significant implications for both discovery and customer relationships across the industry. At an inflection point like this, The Phocuswright Conference is an important forum for challenging assumptions, exchanging ideas and thinking through what comes next for the travel industry. I’m looking forward to being part of that conversation.”
– Brigit Zimmerman, CEO, Priceline, and speaker at The Phocuswright Conference 2026

 

The 2026 conference program will be structured around three interconnected themes:

 

 

• Pressures. Technology acceleration, margin compression, regulatory friction and global instability as structural forces, not cyclical ones.

 

 

• Power. Who controls demand, traveler identity and discovery, and how AI agents, super apps and dominant platforms are redrawing those boundaries.

 

 

• Pivots. From search to intelligence, experimentation to execution: the strategic moves that will separate leaders from laggards.

 

A particular focus will be the emergence of agentic AI, systems capable of interpreting traveler intent, curating options and completing transactions autonomously. As these models mature, the companies that control the booking journey may look very different from those that dominate it today. The conference will interrogate what that transition means for suppliers, intermediaries and technology providers across the stack.

 

“The travel industry has always found its footing through disruption. But the scale and simultaneity of what’s hitting now, across AI, shifting platform dynamics and changing traveler behavior, demands more than adaptation. It demands a clear view of where power is moving and the strategic will to move with it.”
– Pete Comeau, managing director, Phocuswright

 

The Phocuswright Conference draws senior decision-makers from airlines, hotels, online travel agencies, technology companies and investment firms. The 2026 event continues the gathering’s track record as the industry’s most substantive venue for debating strategy at a time of genuine uncertainty.

 

Registration

 

Registration is open now at the lowest rate available for the 2026 event. Executives who register before May 29 save $800, the largest single discount in the pricing cycle. Rates increase monthly through November. Early registration secures both the best price and guaranteed access to an event that has historically sold out among senior industry attendees.

 

Full speaker and programming details will be released in the coming months.